ARE STUDENTS' WORLD VIEWS AFFECTED BY SCHOOL VIEWS:A SOCIOCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE

Bruce Waldrip and Peter TaylorCurtin University of Technology

Background and Rationale

At times the teaching and learning strategies adopted in the high school classroomcan be perceived as being in conflict with the natural learning strategies of the learner.Teachers can use practices that may inadvertently conflict with student& previous learningpatterns, home environment, mores and values. High school classrooms are increasinglyreflecting a greater range of students with different cultural backgrounds. Many teachershave failed to realise that a number of their students may come from communities withwidely differing cultural practices. Many fail to realise that even within an ethnic groupingthat there are different cultural practices and beliefs. Just as there are differences betweenfamilies in how they train their children, so there can be differences between regions withinan ethnic or tribal grouping. Consequently, there can L e a complete lack of sensitivity to theimportant cultural milieu into which the teaching and learning are to be placed. We acceptGeertz's (1973, p. 5) definition of culture as:

man is ar animal suspended in webs of significance he himself has spun. I take cultureto be those webs, and the analysis of it is not an experimental science in search of lawbut an interpretative one in search of meaning.

It follows that unless students can relate the application of what is taught to theirown cultnral background, then the teaching strategies are likely to be less than effective inenhancing their learning. For some time now, it has been argued that one of the main sourcesof students' learning difficulties is the lack of optimisation between teaching strategiesutilised by the teacher and the natural learning styles of the learner (Hofstein, Giddings &Waldrip, 1994; Kempa & Matin-Diaz, 1990a; 1990b). Truebi (1988) argues that whilesociologists have made considerable progress in explaining the relationship betweeninstructional strategies and the learning process in their examination of the differentialachievement of minorities, they have often ignored the critical role of culture in thisrelationship.

Walberg's (1981) model of 'educational productivity' suggests that nine factorsrequire optimisation in order to increase affective, behavioural and cognitive learning. Thesecausal influences on student learning include a set of aptitude variables (Ability,Development and Motivation), a set of instructional variables (Quantity and Quality) and aset of environmental variables (Home, Classroom, Peers and Media). Waldrip and Giddings(1994) argued that a fourth set of variables (Culture) should be included for the optimisationof the learning process. This study will build on this theoretical base. As Zaharlick (1992)implies, educational productivity can only be optimised when the context is accounted for.We argue that learning can only be optimised when the cultural context of the learners isaccounted for. We agree with Trueba (1988, p. 282) that "the conditions for effective learningare created when the role of culture is recognised and used in the activity settings during theactual learning process".

For example, while working in a developing country (as defined by the World Bank),even thoubl- we view all countries as developing, a professor of geology from the localuniversity once informed one of us that he believed in both evolution and special creation asviable explanations of origins. In response to the suggestion that there was a disparitybetween these two explanations, he explained that he believed in evolution when he was atwork and in special creation at church. After some discussion, he saw no disparity betweenthe two viewpoints. We believe that this example typifies the assertion that many learnershold simultaneously two different viewpoints that provide disparate explanations ofnaturally occurring phenomena: a 'world view' and a 'school view'.

Proceedings of the 79th Annual Conference of the Western Australian Science Education Association, Perth, November, 1994.

In relation to science education, we define 'school view' as the canonical scientificconceptions and methods of inquiry that science teachers endeavour to enable students todevelop in order to understand the physical world. Cobern (1991, p. 7) defines 'world view' asthe foundational beliefs about the world that support both commonsense and scientifictheories. We have adopted a restricted version of Cobern's definition, namely, that the'world view' refers to the totality of experiences and explanations that have been built upprior to any experience of school instruction and that comprise students' preconceptions ofnatural phenomena. We are concerned that a disparity exists between students' world viewsand the official school view, especially in school science where Western explanations ofnatural phenomena can be very different from traditional explanations. In our experience ofscience teaching in developing countries, many teachers try to enforce the school view whilefailing to recognise the existence of students' world views. In cases where major disparitiesexist between students' world views and school views, we believe that students' learningbecomes fragmented and lacks cohesiveness and personal meaningfulness. An examination ofthis disparity was one of the goals of the study reported in this paper.

In many developing countries, the official school view is a product of Western cultureinasmuch as the local education system remains tied to its original source (Kahn, 1990). Inparticular, science programs often are taken directly, with little or no adaptation, fromWestern nations' science programs (Ingle & Turner, 1981; Ogawa, 1986). We believe that, indeveloping countries, school science instruction that is based faithfully on imported curriculais likely to result in a disparity between students' world views and their school views. Inthese contexts, culture and traditions tend to be largely 'people-based', whereas science isbased largely on 'things' (Ogunniyi, 1988). When learning science, this difference in emphasiscan produce tensions which result in students developing two different sets of values andattitudes (Kay, 1975) leading to a conflict concerning which set of values and attitudes shouldbe adopted. A consequence of this conflict is 'compartmentalisation', that is, students adopttwo, sometimes conflicting, explanations of a particular phenomenon. One of theseexplanations is based on traditional village explanations or experiences and the other isbased on what is taught in school.

We feel that it is important to examine the relationship between students' worldviews and school views because, as Gilbert, Watts and Osborne (1982, p. 64) argue, the"dominance of the students' prior understanding . . . [cani often lead to quite unintendedinterpretations of what is being taught". The epistemological framework of Gilbert et al.concerning 'prior understanding' was based on Schutz and Luckmann's (1973) foundationaltheory which argues that the learner tends to typify experiences in order to create meaningstructure. Assimilation of these typical experiences forms a 'life-world knowledge' that isboth acceptable and persistent. Berger and Luckmann (1966) argue that this intuitive life-world knowledge is constructed during students' early childhood socialisation andenculturation by 'significant others' (e.g., parents and peers). However, in the context ofscience education, the secondary socialisation process of school science involves less subjectiveinevitability, and may be experienced as being less compelling (Solomon, 1987). As Banks(1993) argues, "the ethnic and cultural experiences of the knower are also epistemologicallysignificant because these factors also influence knowledge construction, use, andinterpretation" (p. 6).

The cultural background of the learner may have a greater effect on education thandoes the subject content, especially in relation to students making observations in scienceclasses Uegede & Okebukola, 1991; Okebukola, 1986). Based on experience, however, webelieve that while students may be somewhat selective about making observations, the realissue is that students are selective about the relationships between their observations, ratherthan the observations per se. This assertion reflects the contention of Falgout and Levin (1992)that, for developing country students, the importance of knowledge lies in its application,results and products, whereas Western schools tend to regard as a virtue the learning ofknowledge for knowledge sake. From an epistemological perspective, therefore, it isimportant that teachers have an "understanding of traditional modes of belief about thenatural world" (Ingle & Turner, 1981, p. 362). We argue, that unless students can relate theschool view of the natural world to their own well-established world views then teaching

strategies are likely to be less than effective in enhancing the permeability of students' worldviews to their school views.

Purpose(s) of the Study

Comparatively little research has been conducted into the state of multicultural highschool classrooms which contain students with a diverse range of cultural backgrounds. Thepaper attempts to explore some of this gap in the research by briefly describing anethnographic-interpretive study based in Melanesia which examines the permeability ofstudents' world-views to the official Western school view. Melanesia is compoied of manysub-cultures, some of which are inherently different even though the region has some ethniccommonalities. In an integrative review of research on the effect of culture on the learning ofscience in non-Western countries, Baker and Taylor (in press) concluded that attempts tonationalise Western science curricula are likely to be ineffective because of thedisconnectedness of students' world views and school views. Whereas that study focussed onthe influence on learning school science of students' cultural backgrounds, including theirlanguage and traditional beliefs, this study reversed the focus and examined the prospects ofschool science making a significant contribution to local cultural practices. We set out toexamine empirically the permeability of the world views of students of school science in adeveloping country in relation to their school views.

Design and ProceduresBecause of the extensive first-hand experiences of the first author within a range of

Melanesian cultures, we planned to conduct an interpretive-ethnographic study (Erickson,1986; Hammers ley & Martin, 1983) that involved field work in a developing Melanesiancountry. We chose an island located in a small South Pacific Melanesian country that we call'Kantri' (a pseudonym is used because of the political sensitivity of the study). Because thefirst author had previously lived and worked in Melanesia for 10 years he was well-knownand, therefore, was readily able to gain access to key people both within the school systemand at a local level.

By means of interviews conducted over a two-week period, we had planned to learnabout: (1) traditional world view explanations of selected natural phenomena held by localMelanesian school students and their parents; (2) students' school view explanations of thesephenomena, and (3) students' and parents' perceptions of the viability of the school viewwithin the context of thE r daily lives. On the basis of this understanding, we hoped to beable to determine the extent to which traditional world views are influenced by school views.In keeping with the interpretive-ethnographic tradition, as we became more sensitive to thelocal culture we learned that our research design needed to be modified. Within a short timeafter arrival in Kantri, field work enabled us to learn more about the nature of the localMelanesian culture and, consequently, we refocussed our research questions.

We had intended to seek explanations of a range of natural phenomena which, fromour experience, form an important focus for traditional stories in many Melanesian cultures.However, the distinctiveness of the local culture of Kantri caused us to reconsider the focus 01our questions. Some expressions describing natural phenomena had no local equivalenttranslation and some phenomena did not have a place in the local lore and traditions.

Village EldersParents of students were not interviewed as initially planned because the villagers

desired to show respect by making available village elders for interview. Village elders areperceived to be the source of all wisdom and are the recognised authority on tribal knowledge.Contact with three elders was made through a respected local high school principal who wasrelated to two of them, Laki and Karsoon, who viewed themselves primarily as fishermen. Athird elder, Lapun, is known throughout the island for his knowledge of folklore, and wasrecommended by the national cultural heritage curator. This elder viewed himself primarilyas a gardener.

Each of the three elders was interviewed separately in a local dialect, Pijin, exceptin the case of the gardener, Karsoon, who felt more comfortable using a mixture of Pijin and avery localised dialect that was quite dissimilar to Pijin. Whenever Pijin was not used a

fellow villager served as a translator. During the interview a large gathering of villagersserved as an attentive audience.

In order to ensure that the elders perceived the interview process as meaningful,initial questions focussed on the context of their chief occupations, that is, the ocean or landenvironment. Each elder was asked to explain how they would know when it was the besttime for fishing or how they knew when or where they could plant their gardens. The elderswere asked for their views on the extent to which schooling helps students to understandbetter the gardening or fishing process that was practised in their villages. Each of theelders seemed to be genuinely interested in participating in the interviews to an extent that,at times, they asked whether they had answered satisfactorily the questions. A local highschool principal who was present during the interviews claimed that the elders were frankand candid. Their critical attitudes towards the value of schooling bears testimony to theirfrankness.

Local StudentsWithin Kantri, less than 10% of students are given the opportunity to receive further

education after completing high school. Consequently, most students return to their villageswhile the privileged few obtain employment in some of the few towns. The majority of theislands within Kantri have no towns, but each has a small store that sells trade goods such assalt, clothing material, fishing or gardening tools, and fuel. Nevertheless, most studentsenvisage themselves as obtaining well-paid employment when they graduate from highschool.

In this study, we interviewed a group of Melanesian students who were attending alocal high school on one of the main islands. This particular school was chosen because of itsaccessibility. Because there are very few high schools in Kantri, each high school contains astudent population that is fairly representative of students across the whole country. Thisschool was particularly so as it was a boarding school and housed students from a number ofremote and rural villages.

In this school, the science curriculum had been imported directly from a nearbyWestern country. Its classroom implementation had been observed by the first author during arecent study of South Pacific science teachers (Giddings & Waldrip, 1993). That studyreported that, in general, South Pacific science teachers have very didactic approaches toteaching which allow very little variation in approaches to learning science beyond passivereception and rote recall. Evidence from other studies supports our contention that SouthPacific teachers implement curricula with very little adaptation to the local culturalcontexts (Thaman, 1993).

There are twice as many male students as there are female students in the highschools of Kantri. This is due to the patriarchal nature of the culture that places a highvalue on school education for male adolescents and a high value on traditional domesticeducation for female adolescents. In this study, we interviewed 11 male and 4 female students,most of whom were aged in their mid to late teens (see Table 1). Students were interviewed inEnglish by the first author. The interviews were recorded on audio-tape and transcribed for

analysis. It was explained that their responses would be treated confidentially and thattheir identities would remain anonymous. Nevertheless, we soon found that most studentscould not, or would not, provide traditional explanationsof natural phenomena that had beendiscussed successfully with the village elders. All students, except two, seemed to feel thatthe village stories were foolish and, when pressed for an explanation of natural phenomena,tended to laugh and claim not to know them.

Table 1Age and Gender of Interviewed Students

Age of Student Gender Number of Students

mid-teensmid-teenslate teenslate teensmature age

male 6

female 2

male 4

female 2

male 1

Because this line of questioning proved to be relatively fruitless, we decided to focuson students' explanations of traditional methods of gardening or fishing in which theyparticipated when living in their villages. We asked them for their parents' explanationsabout gardening or fishing practices and asked how they perceived their parents'explanations. The students were asked about the usefulness of what they learn at school forvillage life. They were asked how well schooling prepared them for village life. They wereasked questions concerning what would happen if they tried to implement what they hadlearnt at school within their village lifestyles. Finally, they were asked for their opinion asto which type of learning - school subjects or village lore - best prepared them for life in thevillage.

Revised Research FocusOur revised research focus sought to establish the extent to which the school view

was perceived, in a general sense, as being relevant to important traditional village lifestylepractices. The focus of our study shifted from an examination of the influence of the schoolview on traditional explanations of natural phenomena to an examination of perceptions ofthe usefulness of the school view in the context of key aspects of daily life in the village.

Results and Discussion

The study suggested that (1) the process of enculturation into a Western school viewinvolves an implicit devaluation of students' traditional world views which govern theirvillage lifestyles; and (2) a Western school view is of limited viability in relation totraditional values and practices. If the schooling process is not meeting cultural expectations,it is likely that the resultant learning will be less than effective. This may be one factor whyconstructivism is less than effectively implemented in some classrooms. In this case, it may beof value to negotiate acceptable methods of learning for that classroom. Any introduction ofalternative learning methods may need to be carefully crafted md negotiated.

When we designed the study, we were concerned about the role of school science inshaping the future lives of peoples of non-Weste rn cultures. Our experience of living andteaching in largely non-Western countries suggested that science curricula that are importeddirectly from Western industrialised countries might be less than relevant to the traditionalworld views held by members of the local culture. We were aware of research that indicatedthat the cultural background of the non-Western learner has a strong influence on theirlearning of school science, and we wondered whether the reverse might also be true. That is,we wanted to investigate the extent to which the school view of science permeates the worldviews of students in non-Western cultures.

We conducted an interpretive-ethnographic study that investigated the relationshipbetween the world view and school view of a group of high school students in one Melanesianculture. In fact, a number of subcultures existed amongst these participants. Even though allwere Melanesian, some had a culture that is very similar to Polynesia. Besides sharing somePolynesian cultural expectations, they spoke a Polynesian-based language. They wereviewed by the local inhabitants as Melanesian. Other participants had Micronesian culturallinkages. The rest had different ethnic backgrounds. All participants live in the samecountry and are viewed as Melanesians by the other participants. The students had lefttemporarily their traditional village lifestyles while they attended a residential highschool in a rural area where they were studying a Western-oriented school science curriculum.We were able to gain insights into the traditional world views of villagers by interviewingseveral respected elders who told stories about their traditional ways of gardening and abouttheir early experiences of Western schooling. We focussed our investigation on the perceivedinfluence of school views on traditional village beliefs and practices.

Because of the limited employment prospects on the island, most students wouldresume village life on completion of high school. It seemed obvious to us that the scienceeducation they were receiving at school should serve an important role in their future lives,whi ther they sought employment in towns or returned to their villages. We weredisappointed to learn, however, that schooling currently disconnects young people from theirown cultural beliefs and practices, and attempts to enculturate them into a largely irrelevant

Western school view. At school, a preoccupation with teaching with high fidelity animported Western-oriented curriculum seems to have blinded teachers to their unwittingpromotion of a cultural cringe amongst their students. At school, students embrace thelegitimised rationality of school science while developing negative attitudes toward theirtraditional world views. Back in the village, however, young high school graduatesexperience difficulties fitting back in to a world view that they have learned to eschew.

Generally speaking, the village elders and high school students whom weinterviewed did not perceive the school view as useful for improving the knowledge andskills needed for survival in the village. For example, school science was regarded asproviding methods of agriculture that were either inferior to or no better than traditionalagricultural practices. Indeed, there was a general perception that the school view conflictedwith traditional values and practices, and served to undermine young people's respect fortraditional lifestyles. The main perceived benefit of formal education for young people wasits improvement of their prospects of earning a monetary income that could be shared withtheir extended families if they were able to obtain scarce employment in a town.

In this brief study of traditional Melanesian culture, we obtained disturbingly littleevidence of the positive influence of the school view of science on young people's traditionalworld views. We were left with the distinct impression that much of what goes on in thehigh school science classroom in rural Kantri is of little relevance to the future lives of mostyoung Melanesians. Of course, we did not observe the science classes attended by students inthis study and, therefore, cannot judge the extent to which the teachers were attempting toadapt their Western science curricula to local needs. Nevertheless, whatever may be going inthese classes (and other research indicates that very little adaptation to local needs isoccurring), the outcome is less than impressive from the pointsof view of local people.

We believe that the educational challenge for developing countries such as Kantri,which currently import science curricula from Western countries, is one o' -urriculumadaptation to the local culture. This can be achieved only through a rich undersiending of theprevailing (albeit changing) cultural values and practices of the local people. Above all else,it is imperative to avoid a neo-colonialist policy that legitimises young people'srelinquishment of their cultural heritage in favour of an inappropriate Western scientisticschool view that creates a false dawn of expectations for the 'well-qualified' high schoolgraduate. Further research needs to be conducted in Kantri, and in other non-Western cultures,to document the world views of local indigenous people and to suggest ways that the power ofWestern science may be harnessed in their interests.

This study reversed the focus of a previous study (Baker & Taylor, in press) byexamining the prospects of school science making a significant contribution to local culturalpractices. Similarly, the discussion presented here reversed the focus of much educationalresearch in non-Western countries which shows how little transference of learning occurswhen trying to impose a Western curricula on non-Western countries. This paper seeks toconclude with what can be learnt from a non-Western setting which is applicable to Westernhigh schools which are containing an increasing diversity of different cultures. This studyindicates that the need to adapt to local cultural learning practices. It also stressed thatmuch schooling tends to devalue traditional views and consequently schooling can havelimited viability in relation to traditional values and practices.

Just as this study had to adapt to the local culture, any study within a typicalAustralian (or Western) high school needs to address the concerns of multicultural classrooms.This paper supports Cobern's (in press) rejection of cultural deficiency being a major cause ofthe unsuitability of the adoption of Western learning processes in a non-Western educationalsystem, and argues that understanding the local cultural context is essential in the learningprocess. True constructivists will not merely look for a technical 'alternative pathway' oflearning but rather focus on culturally acceptable learning processes. This paper suggests thatteachers need to relate students' learning to meaningful past experiences. Eventually thiswill involve students' personal constructions. Rather than being an obstacle to learning, weperceive the understanding and effective utilisation of cultural expectations as an essentialaspect of the learning process. Even so, as we communicate, we make and remake our owncultures (Bhola, 1990). Hence, involving culture in the learning process is a dynamic, notstatic process. That is, a constant state of reflection and negotiation is essential for effective

learning to occur in Australian multicultural classrooms. Our next line of research plans toexamine this interaction of students' perceptions of the learning process and their culturalexpectations. It is envisaged that this examination will help teachers to be more aware ofthe cultural effects in the learning process.

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